These days, RuPaul is most famous for his reality competition show, "RuPaul's Drag Race," which returns for a seventh season Monday at 9 p.m. on Logo. But before the drag superstar's rise to fame, RuPaul Charles, 54, was an '80s club kid — performing his own music, emceeing and go-go dancing.
"I'm from San Diego, Calif. I knew that for my star to shine, I would have to move to New York, become an Andy Warhol superstar and then make my way back to Hollywood," RuPaul tells The Post. "I didn't become an Andy Warhol superstar, but everything else is pretty much how it worked for me. New York, I knew, would get my energy."
Now RuPaul, who splits time between LA and a place in the West Village he's had for 20 years, looks back fondly at his wild and crazy times in the mid- to late-'80s and early '90s.
This is his party New York.
1. Pyramid Club, 101 Avenue A between Sixth and Seventh Streets
Photo: Christian Johnston
2. Jane West Hotel (now The Jane), 113 Jane St. near West Street
Photo: Helayne Seidman
"[In the beginning,] when I did have money, I would rent a room at the Jane West Hotel — when I was getting some go-go dancing gigs or I could perform to my own songs. It was a dump. It had that distinctive New York smell — it's like a mixture of mold, soot and grime. The only place you can smell that now is in the subway."
3. 333 Rector Place, at South End Ave.
Photo: Lorenzo Ciniglio
"On my new album, 'Realness,' I reunite with the producer I recorded [the 1992 hit] 'Supermodel' with. His name is Eric Kupper, and I recorded 'Supermodel' at his apartment. He had a studio in his living room. I remember looking out the window and I could see the Statue of Liberty during the recording session."
4. Image Production Center, 727 Eleventh Avenue at 52nd Street
Photo: WireImage
5. Area, formerly 157 Hudson St. between Laight and Hubert Streets
Photo: Getty Images
6. The Hudson Piers, between Charles and West 10th Streets
Photo: Christian Johnston
"I moved to New York in 1984, and I lived here for six months, sleeping on couches or on the piers before the city spit me back out and I went to Atlanta [for a while]. There were people who were hooking up in cars, because back then you could park your car facing the Hudson, right at the river's edge."
7. Save the Robots, formerly 25, Avenue B between Second and Third Streets
Photo: Christian Johnston
"[There were] illegal after-hours clubs in the East Village, like Save the Robots. The party scene was gay, straight, lesbian, black, white, rich, poor, uptown, downtown. It wasn't so polarized. You could see the girl on the cover of Vogue and some artist who lives on the street."
8. Tompkins Square Park, Seventh through Tenth Streets between Avenues A and B
Photo: Brian Zak
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